Every year on the second Saturday of May, letter carriers across the United States help residents fight hunger in our community. The Kewanee Post Office will be participating in this year’s food drive on Saturday, May 9.
Started in 1993, the National Association of Letter Carriers’ (NALC) annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive has helped thousands of local food banks nationwide. Nearly 1,500 NALC branches will participate nationwide.
Barbara Gross, president of the Kewanee Food Pantry board, said the non-profit group is grateful for the support of the local post office and the mail carriers in coordinating the drive.
“We rely on this event to help restock our shelves and assist Kewanee families.”
Last year’s drive was the lowest recorded, with just over 3,000 pounds brought to the Kewanee Food Pantry.
“With 325 new households added in 2025 and another 76 added so far this year, we are very aware of the need in our community,” said Gross.
Residents are asked to place non-perishable food in a bag and leave it by their mailbox. The letter carriers will pick up donations as they do their routes. All of the locally donated items will be taken to the Kewanee Food Pantry where volunteers will inspect every item and sort it for distribution.
The local pantry has distributed over 1,400 boxes since January and relies on donations to help keep families fed. Any non-perishable food items are also accepted with staple items such as soup, canned vegetables and fruit, peanut butter, pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, tuna or crackers as a good choice for donation. Personal care items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo and deodorant are also collected.
If anyone prefers to make a monetary donation, checks may be made out to Kewanee Food Pantry and mailed to P.O. Box 492, Kewanee, IL 61443. Donations may also be made online through the PayPal Giving Program, with 100% of donations going directly to the pantry. Search for Kewanee Food Pantry while on the PayPal website or app to get started. These financial donations allow the food pantry to purchase in bulk directly from area food banks at lower prices.
“Kewanee residents have supported our efforts for many years and we couldn’t do this without their help,” Gross said. “We thank everyone for their donations, we thank the mail carriers and we thank our volunteers for all their hard work.”
Kewanee Food Pantry is located at 924 Rose St. and is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m.
